William Hart-Smith (1911-1990). Courtesy Andrew Lansdown.
William Hart-Smith (23 November 1911 - 15 April 1990) was a New Zealand/Australian poet, sometimes called "the first Australasian poet".[1]
Life[]
Hart-Smith was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. His family moved to New Zealand in 1924.
He had about 7 years of formal schooling in England, Scotland, and New Zealand before going to work at 15. His first job was as a radio mechanic.
In 1936, he emigrated to Australia, where he worked in commercial radio and then with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). He then did army service, then returned to ABC but resigned to spend a year in the Northern Territory, becoming a free lance writer.
Smith was connected with the Jindyworobak Movement, and had some of his work, such as Columbus goes West (1943) published by them. However, he spent only a decade in Australia, returning to New Zealand in 1946. From 1948-1954, he taught in adult education.
He spent several years in Perth from the late 1960s, associating with younger poets including Andrew Lansdown, Hal Colebatch and Lee Knowles. He was a prolific writer of poetry into old age, though many of his later poems have never been collected. He also a distinguished conchologist, specialising in classifying cowrie shells. He said he had come to Perth from Sydney to find unpolluted water for shelling. He died in 1990.
Recognition[]
Hart-Smith was awarded the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for Poems of Discovery in 1960, the Christopher Brennan Award for Selected Poems, 1936-1984, and the Patrick White Award in 1987.[1]
In popular culture[]
A number of his poems were set to music, by Stephen Leek and others, in the 1990s.[2]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems. Sydney: B. French, 1942.
- Columbus goes West. Adelaide: Jindyworobak Publications, 1943.
- Harvest. Melbourne: Georgian House, 1945.
- The Unceasing Ground. Sydney & London: Angus & Robertson, 1946
- Christopher Columbus: A sequence of poems. Christchurch: Caxton, 1948.
- On the Level: Mostly Canterbury poems. Timaru, NZ: privately published, 1950.
- Poems of Discovery. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1959.
- The Talking Clothes: Poems. Sydney, London, & Melbourne: Angus & Roberston, 1966.
- Minipoems. Perth, WA: privately published, 1974.
- Let Me Learn the Steps: Poems from a psychiatric ward (with Mary Morris). South Bentley, WA: privately published, 1977.
- Selected Poems, 1936-1984. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1985.
- Hand to Hand: A garnering (edited by Barbara Petrie). Springwood, NSW: Butterfly Books, 1991.
Juvenile[]
- Birds, Beasts, Flowers: Australian children's poetry (edited by Brian Dibble). Ringwood, Vic: Puffin, 1996.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]
See also[]
Andrew recites Eaglehawk by William Hart-Smith
References[]
- Allen Curnow, The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse
- Harry P. Heseltine, The Penguin Book of Australian Verse
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 William Hart-Smith, Australian Society of Authors. Web, Sep. 13, 2014.
- ↑ William Hart-Smith, AustLit. Web, Sep. 13, 2014.
- ↑ Search results = au:William Hart-Smith, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 13, 2014.
External links[]
- Poems
- Hart-Smith at An Australian Poem-a-Day: "The Beach," "Tractor"
- William Hart-Smith at PoemHunter (3 poems)
- William Hart-Smith profile & 6 poems
- Books
- William Hart-Smith at Amazon.com
- About
- William Hart-Smith at My Poetic Side
- William Hart-Smith in the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature
- Hart-Smith, William (Bill) (1911-1990) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- William Hart-Smith at AusLit
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